Lando Norris offers three-word fix to overcome McLaren’s bad starts

Lando Norris has suggested an “underlying issue” might be the cause of McLaren’s poor starts after the problem struck again in the F1 Dutch Grand Prix.

For the sixth consecutive time Norris failed to convert P1 on the grid into a lead on the opening lap as he lost out to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the short run to Turn 1 at Zandvoort.

But unlike on previous occasions, it did not cost him the win as the McLaren driver brilliantly recovered by re-passing Verstappen, before cruising to a statement victory by 22.9 seconds over the Dutchman.

When asked how he can improve his starts going forward, Norris retorted: “Not get wheelspin.”

He went on to add: “I mean we know what to do, we know what’s required to do a perfect start. But we’re talking about fine margins here.

“Because we both didn’t get it right, it seems like maybe there was more underlying issue, or something wasn’t how it’s supposed to be, or we’ve clearly misjudged something more than what others did.

“Oscar is one of the best starters on the grid. I’m not as good as him, but there or thereabouts. I’m not a bad starter, but not as good as what we need to be.

“Again, it was a race which almost slipped away off the line. Today was again different to every other thing that’s happened. Kind of like I said before the weekend, we need to find a bit more consistency.

“But we’ve worked on it, and I felt like we’ve done better procedurally, but obviously didn’t turn into the correct thing.”

Norris said he remained “surprisingly calm” despite losing the lead off the line.

“After getting done into Turn 1 and off the line, I was actually surprisingly calm,” he explained.

“Maybe because I’m a bit used to going backwards at the start. I’m very prepared for those kind of scenarios. I was very calm and just, ‘OK, what can I do now?’

“That was just to look ahead and start saving tyres and see what I had pace-wise.

“But really even like [Turns] 10, 11, 12, 13, I kind of managed to catch Max a little bit again and started to gain quite a bit of optimism that actually I could almost pass him on track.

“So I had two opportunities. The first one I wasn’t quite close enough. The next lap I did end in. I could get my head down from there.”